The first-ever detection of heavy water in a planet-forming disk around a young star offers evidence that the water predates the star itself — and it appears this substance even originated in the cold, dark molecular cloud that gave birth to the star.
Scientists spotted the heavy water (which we'll get into in just a moment) in the planet-forming disk of gas and dust around the young star V883 Orionis by ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which is a network of 66 radio dishes in Chile. V883 Ori is located 1,350 light-years away and is a member of a cluster of stars born out of the famous Orion Nebula.
